CEQA/NEPA

Clients seek out Meyers Nave when approvals of projects are processed under CEQA, NEPA, and other related laws – and when those projects are challenged in court. Our team has overseen the preparation of hundreds of Environmental Impact Reports under CEQA and Environment Impact Statements under NEPA. We have also litigated hundreds of environmental law cases throughout the state and at every level of the judicial process, including the California Supreme Court, and have an outstanding track record of success.

Many clients hire us to help “bullet-proof” Environmental Impact Reports to withstand litigation. We review and advise on Significant Environmental Impacts, Mitigation Measures, Alternatives to the Proposed Project, Discussion of Cumulative Impacts, and Social Effects. We advise on the scope and outline of the environmental review, comments on the administrative draft, responses to comments, and environmental findings. We have expertise in the ever-changing fields of traffic, air quality and climate change impact analysis, and review technical reports addressing these issues.

Since CEQA review can be lengthy and costly, we inform clients of opportunities for streamlined review, including CEQA exemptions, opportunities to “tier” off a prior environmental document, use of addendum to a prior EIR or Negative Declaration, and legislative provisions that fast track projects certified as Environmental Leadership Development Projects.

Our CEQA/NEPA project expertise includes:
• Civil infrastructure (power, water, transportation)
• Commercial, residential and mixed-use developments
• Freight rail projects and railyards
• Industrial and manufacturing facilities
• Master-planned communities
• Passenger rail transit systems
• Port, harbor and airport expansions
• Sports, entertainment, convention centers
• University, healthcare and office campuses

Representative Matters

• $2 Billion Passenger Rail Infrastructure Project. Facebook and infrastructure developer Plenary Group established a public-private partnership with the San Mateo County Transit District to develop a massive transportation infrastructure project that will create a new commuter rail corridor between Silicon Valley and the East Bay. The project’s estimated cost is $2 billion. Meyers Nave serves as lead land use, environmental and CEQA/NEPA counsel to the private partner for the project, including advising on all local, state and federal permitting issues.

• Los Angeles World Airports/Los Angeles International Airport. For more than a decade, Meyers Nave has served as counsel in connection with development and implementation of the Los Angeles International Airport Master Plan, a $14 billion expansion of one of the world’s busiest airports, including defense against four consolidated lawsuits challenging the approval of the airport’s expansion plans under CEQA, NEPA and the California Coastal Act. We provided guidance to LAWA in preparing Part 161 Studies for LAX and the Van Nuys Airport, essential components of the LAX Master Plan. Additionally, we acted as outside counsel during the environmental review of the $240 million South Airfield Improvement Project, the first project initiated under the Master Plan. Meyers Nave continues to support further developments stemming from the Master Plan, including updates to the Northside Plan and the reconfiguration of the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). This includes CEQA and land use advice to a $2 billion renovation of TBIT and gates at LAX.
  
  We are also lead CEQA counsel for the proposed LAX Airfield & Terminal Modernization Project (ATMP), which is a multi-billion-dollar group of projects that will include airfield, terminal and landside improvements, with elements of the project opening prior to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The project includes airfield enhancements to increase efficiency and safety within the north airfield, new terminal facilities to upgrade passenger processing capabilities and enhance the customer experience, and an improved system of roadways to better access the Central Terminal Area (CTA) and reduce congestion.
  We also reviewed the planning documents and EIR for LAX’s Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP), a multi-billion-dollar update to the ground transportation system at LAX, with an emphasis on providing alternative modes of transportation for accessing LAX. The project includes an Automated People Mover (an elevated and grade separated train system) designed to connect to (1) Metro’s 96th Street Connector Project and Green line extension, (2) Intermodal Transportation Facilities, and (3) a new Consolidated Rental Car facility.

• Port of Los Angeles Master Plan and Project Implementation. Meyers Nave serves as lead environmental compliance and land use permitting counsel for multiple large‐scale cargo, shipping and transportation projects for container terminals and dockside intermodal railyards. We have reviewed major project EIRs and EISs for CEQA and NEPA compliance, and advised on multiple long‐term planning projects, including the Port Master Plan Update and Southern California International Gateway project. Our attorneys’ work was instrumental in negotiating acceptable mitigation measures with environmental and community groups as well as negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with the California Attorney General’s Office related to climate change for over a dozen, large-scale expansion and redesign projects. Meyers Nave has also represented the Port in several major CEQA cases in both the trial and appellate courts and have an outstanding track record of litigation victories since we began our representation on POLA’s behalf.

• San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). Meyers Nave attorneys have served as CEQA and land use counsel to SANDAG since the late 1980s. Our attorneys’ major work has included legal review and litigation support for the first Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (“RTP/SCS”) in the state and its EIR, adopted in 2011, as well as legal review of 2015 and 2021 updates to the regional plan (“San Diego Forward”) and associated EIRs. The advice and reviews for SANDAG’s regional plans and their EIRs have required in depth knowledge of federal and state transportation planning law, Clean Air Act conformity requirements, affordable housing and regional housing needs assessment law, and regulatory programs for air quality, biological resources, greenhouse gases, and water quality. In addition to reviewing regional plans and their EIRs, our attorneys have assisted SANDAG on CEQA reviews for many individual projects, such as a proposed downtown San Diego bus layover and multi-use facility. Our attorneys also regularly assist in responding to related ongoing Public Records Act requests and compilation of administrative records.
• BNSF Railway. Serving as lead outside counsel to BNSF in the $1.5 billion, 4,500-acre Barstow International Gateway project, an integrated rail facility that will transform California supply chain logistics by transferring containers directly from ships at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to trains bound for Barstow. This state-of-the-art, master-planned facility—the first being developed by a Class 1 railroad—will reduce highway congestion by one million truck hauls each year, transform the regional economy, and unlock critical efficiencies to meet our nation’s supply chain demands. We also are advising BNSF on partnering with the California High‐Speed Rail Authority for CEQA and NEPA review of a project to redevelop existing rail corridors to operate high‐speed passenger service on a segment of BNSF‐owned track from Los Angeles Union Station to Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center.

• UC Multi-Campus Long-Range Development Plans and Implementation. For more than a decade, Meyers Nave has served as lead land use and environmental counsel to the University of California on many high-profile and complex capital development projects across the statewide system. We currently advise UC on the CEQA review of new Long Range Development Plans to guide future development on many campuses. We also guide campuses through the CEQA and regulatory approval process for individual projects that add and expand administration offices, student and workforce housing, student services, academic buildings, research centers and healthcare facilities.
• Oakland A’s MLB Stadium and Mixed-Use Development Project. In addition to providing general CEQA advice to the City of Oakland on major development projects, Meyers Nave serves as outside land use and environmental counsel to the City for a waterfront ballpark and mixed-use development project at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal. The project includes a 35,000-seat ballpark, 3,000 residential units, 1.5 million sq. ft. of office, 270,000 sq. ft. of retail, a 400-room hotel and a 3,500-seat performance venue. We are advising on the preparation of the Environmental Impact Report (CEQA), land use entitlements, and project-related agreements including the Development Agreement and Community Benefits Agreement. We also are advising on compliance with special streamlining legislation (AB 734).
• City of Anaheim’s “Big A 2050” Plan for Orange County’s only MLB Stadium. Meyers Nave serves as lead land use and CEQA counsel to the City of Anaheim for a mixed-use development and stadium project, known as Big A 2050, on the site of an existing Los Angeles Angels stadium. The project envisions redevelopment of the stadium site to introduce large-scale residential, office, and retail/entertainment uses to create a year-round use. We advise on all entitlements and environmental review required to bring the plan to fruition including a Disposition and Development Agreement, site plans, tentative maps and other required approvals.
• Sacramento’s $477 Million Downtown NBA Arena and Mixed-Use Development Project. Meyers Nave defeated every legal challenge against the $477 million downtown arena for the Sacramento Kings NBA team. Our victories included a published appellate decision denying a CEQA-based challenge to the project and a published appellate decision denying a constitutional challenge to the special statute passed to streamline the City’s CEQA review of the proposed arena (the first appellate decision concerning the constitutionality of project-specific CEQA streamlining statutes).
• Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP). Meyers Nave serves as outside counsel for LADWP on land use, environmental and water rights matters, as well as CEQA litigation defense. Meyers Nave also advises LADWP on the preparation of CEQA documents for individual water and electric facilities, and on developing tools for engaging stakeholders early in planning processes. Meyers Nave also represented LADWP in complex litigation challenging rates and charges, protecting water rights, and defending against CEQA challenges to individual projects, including litigation regarding changes to a mitigation measure in an EIR that analyzed a historic water agreement for the City’s aqueduct and transfer of water from Owens Valley to Los Angeles.
• Santa Clara Valley Water District. Meyers Nave attorneys have represented Santa Clara Valley Water District as outside CEQA counsel since 2010, providing strategic CEQA advice, detailed CEQA document review, and litigation services for over 20 different water supply and flood management projects. Projects include the San Luis Reservoir Low Point Improvement Project, the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Phase 1 Study, and flood management projects on Berryessa and Penitencia Creeks. In addition, our attorneys are providing strategic and review for the District’s Fisheries and Aquatic Habitat Collaborative Effort (FAHCE), a major long-term program intended to improve fish habitat and fish passage within the watersheds of the Coyote Creek, Stevens Creeks, and the Guadalupe River; proposed project actions include modifications to reservoir operations to provide instream flows, restoration measures to improve habitat conditions and provide fish passage, and adaptive management. Priority EIR topics include impacts of the proposed project on improving habitat for Central Coast Steelhead, a threatened species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, and impacts of proposed reservoir reoperations on the District’s surface water and groundwater supplies.
• Mixed-Use Development Project and Transit Station Adjacent to SAP Arena. Since 2011, Meyers Nave has assisted the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) on land use and environmental matters for implementation of long-range plans to expand public rail transit into the South Bay and Silicon Valley. Our cases include representing VTA in a lawsuit filed by the San Jose Sharks alleging violations of CEQA and NEPA relating to BART’s multi-year four-station extension into downtown San Jose and Santa Clara. Meyers Nave has advised VTA on multiple transit expansion projects, including a multi-phased six-station project to bring BART from Fremont through San Jose to Santa Clara, which runs through several jurisdictions and spans the CEQA and NEPA process and Section 404 permitting.
• Crossroads of the World Redevelopment Project. Meyers Nave represented the City of Los Angeles in CEQA litigation over redevelopment of the iconic Crossroads of the World site on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. We prevailed at the trial court in expedited CEQA litigation for this transit-oriented development project, including 950 apartments and condos, 308‐room hotel, and 190,000 square feet of commercial space in three buildings of up to 32 stories. The Governor certified the project as an Environmental Leadership Development Project under AB 900, entitling it to a compressed litigation schedule that requires resolving trial and appellate litigation in an expedited 270-day timeframe.
• 8150 Sunset Boulevard Mixed-Use Development Project. Meyers Nave serves as a primary outside land use and environmental litigation counsel to the City of Los Angeles in a number of cases challenging land use and CEQA approvals for a wide range of projects that are part of the City’s long-range efforts to revitalize the downtown area. One project is the innovative Frank Gehry-designed project that will create a gateway to Hollywood on the Sunset Strip. We defeated the expedited CEQA litigation challenges for the 330,000-square-foot sustainably designed, mixed-use high-rise development project. Four different CEQA lawsuits were brought against the project, which is designated an Environmental Leadership Development Project.
• LA-RICS Joint Power Authority, Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System. Since 2011, Meyers Nave attorneys have provided CEQA and NEPA advice to the LA-RICS Authority, a joint powers authority with representatives of more than 25 agencies in the Los Angeles area, responsible for the safety of 10 million Los Angeles County residents. The Authority is constructing a communication network dedicated exclusively to emergency responders, managing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grant money to construct more than 200 individual monopole and tower sites for public safety/emergency services infrastructure. The broadband component of this system will be incorporated in to FirstNet, a nationwide first responder network. Our work for the Authority has included review of a complex EIR for the Land Mobile Radio System, ongoing review of NEPA analyses for consideration by the federal grant managers, and ongoing advice for CEQA and NEPA compliance. We also played an instrumental role in obtaining legislative approval of a statutory exemption from CEQA for certain sites within the LA-RICS System.

• City of Redondo Beach. Since 2008, Meyers Nave attorneys have acted as outside legal counsel for the City of Redondo Beach on all land use and environmental matters, including CEQA and NEPA. This includes a $300 million Waterfront Revitalization Project, which proposes 500,000 square feet of commercial and recreational space on 36 acres in the City’s Coastal Zone. Our attorneys have worked closely with the City and environmental consultants on all aspects of the project, including EIR review, entitlement, Coastal Act and public trust compliance, trustee/responsible agency coordination and public review procedures. Our attorneys also handled litigation for this project involving challenges under CEQA, the Coastal Act, the Public Trust, and CEQA administrative appeal procedures.
• California Supreme Court’s “biggest CEQA case”. In Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley (S201116, March 2, 2015), the California Supreme Court issued a highly anticipated decision which resolved years of uncertainty by holding that there must be “unusual circumstances” in order for an otherwise categorically exempt project to be subject to CEQA. The Court also resolved a divide among Courts of Appeal, holding that an agency’s findings as to unusual circumstances are subject to the substantial evidence standard. Amrit Kulkarni, Chair of Meyers Nave’s Environmental law Practice, represented Lotus founder Mitch Kapor and his wife, Freada Kapor-Klein, in this victory in a precedent-setting case that received extensive media coverage, including news articles that described it as “the biggest CEQA case the state’s high court will consider,” “a landmark CEQA case…to determine the fundamental legal nature and practical utility of CEQA’s regulatory exemptions,” and a case that affects “how public agencies handle common exemptions from California’s bedrock environmental law.” The Court also established a new two-part test to analyze a project opponent’s assertion that a project presents “unusual circumstances” that require CEQA review.